VDL Farms still plans to export milk direct from Tasmania to China

VDL’s direct-to-China plans still on standby

STILL ON HORIZON: VDL Farms chief executive Evan Rolley said plans to ship milk direct to China have stalled, but are still viable.

Picture: Supplied

VDL Farms’ plans to export premium Tasmanian milk from Hobart direct to China have hit a few snags, but are still viable.

Production has ramped up to the point the business is now sending around 10,000 litres of milk to China each week, VDL farms chief executive Evan Rolley said.

“We started the process to identify farms that have low bulk milk cell counts, or very high quality milk [for the Chinese market],” Mr Rolley said.

“We’re ramping up the volume of milk production each month. We’re working up the supply chain and ramping up to scale,” he said.

VDL is trialling its systems between collection, transport, processing and packaging milk at the Lion organic processing facility in Glenorchy, and then registration and transportation to Melbourne across Bass Strait.

From Melbourne the milk goes direct to China before being certified and distributed to supermarkets.

“A sister company handles the milk in China, but we’re trying to go direct to customers rather than just going to supermarkets,” Mr Rolley said.

“It’s more of a step process, but it’s testing all the supply chain issues. It’s better to do it step by step and ensure it works,” he said.

Another hiccup is the Hobart airport upgrade, which was scheduled for completion last month, but has now been pushed back to early next year.